Pamela: Idioms 2 key examples

Pamela's idiomatic phrasing may not seem all that remarkable, but it reflects the fact that she lives in a world that habitually speaks of happiness as a direct metaphor for marriage. Although these neighbors may genuinely wish Pamela and Mr. B. well, they are not simply happy that the two of them are happy. Rather, this is a ritual acknowledgment of Pamela as Mr. B.'s new wife a few days after he "debuted" her at church. Notably, it is not just anyone who comes by to congratulate the couple. It is specifically "almost all the neighbouring Gentry, and their good Ladies." These are all high-status, wealthy neighbors who are welcoming the new couple into their midst as an organized unit. They stay for dinner. Pamela does not describe the dinner in detail, but the fact that they are all willing to sit at a table with her is a signal that they see her as one of them.

Pamela has spent the whole book working toward the position she now occupies, as the wife of a wealthy man. It is difficult to imagine for most of the book why Pamela would want to marry Mr. B., her longtime tormentor. However, this scene (and the idiom itself) helps illuminate what is so attractive about him. When Pamela marries him, she does not just marry the man. Furthermore, she marries the entire social life that comes along with being his wife. This is the reward Richardson promises her in the subtitle to the novel should she remain virtuous.

It is easy at first to imagine that Pamela is referring to Mr. B. as the "Author of my Happiness." After all, she has just been praising him and describing how much she owes to him. However, permutations of the phrase "author of my existence" or "author of my happiness" were a common way to refer to God at this time. The idiom is especially common in fiction and often appears at dramatic, emotional moments as a way of chalking up overwhelmingly emotional circumstances to God's will. Pamela tells her parents that Mr. B. "emboldens me to look up, with Pleasure, upon the generous Author of my Happiness." As a religious institution, marriage was supposed to do exactly this: love for one's spouse was supposed to encourage love for God. Pamela is assuring her parents that her marriage is legitimate, no matter how it came about.

At the same time, it may be by design that Pamela almost lets the reader believe that she sees Mr. B. as the "generous Author of my Happiness." After weeks of resisting him, she has finally succumbed to his desires. She does get him to marry her (something he has previously refused) so that she can remain "virtuous." This is no small win in her mind, but nonetheless, Mr. B. has a great deal of legal, financial, and sexual power over Pamela. As much havoc as he has wreaked on her life in the past, Pamela really does seem to get "Pleasure" from yielding to Mr. B., so long as she can do so without violating social expectations. Almost calling him the "Author of my Happiness" under cover of praising God fits in with her belief that marriage resolves all of the problems in her relationship with him.